Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
The folks behind the North Loop Galley food hall in Minneapolis are putting out a call for entrepreneurial chefs to launch their restaurant concepts with “minimal upfront cost, maximum brand exposure and dedicated ongoing support,” as the Pittsburgh-based outfit calls it.
I call it a cool idea in the fast-growing food hall space, kind of like a tech company accelerator but for chefs. Chefs can apply by email here.
North Loop Galley has been open since 2019 and this is their first call for chefs in Minneapolis as earlier concepts start to age out.
“Part of the premise is these kitchens aren’t meant to stay forever. They’re meant to grow and expand, and eventually move into a brick-and-mortar space” of their own, says Chad Ellingboe, CEO of Galley Group. “We’re looking toward the future where we’ll have a space available.”
He’s been in restaurants since graduating from college, joined the Galley Group in 2017 and took over as CEO in 2020. They also have two locations in Pittsburgh, Federal Galley and Galley Bakery Square, and one in development in Newport, Ky.
North Loop Galley is “a similar style and demographic as Pittsburgh, a good mix of demographics of white collar versus blue collar, the background of the city, a lot of similarities. It kind of has that same vibe as Minneapolis as well,” he said.
The locations operate the same, each with four kitchens and a centralized bar program. There’s no fixed rent or CAM charges (common area maintenance) and Galley Group takes a 30 percent cut of its vendors’ net sales. “All the utilities are covered, the space taxes are covered, the licensing for the POS (point of sale) systems are covered, and we provide the front of house staff, the bussers, the dishwashers and the management.” Chefs cover food and their labor.
Not all of Galley Group’s food halls have worked. A location in Detroit, Fort Street Galley, opened and closed in 14 months in February 2020, as did Galley Group’s Cleveland food hall at about the same time, and the two co-founders left the company.
At the time, JP Garcia, a chef who ran the Filipino stall in Fort Street Galley, told the Detroit Free Press the 30 percent cut “is really a killer. I’ve worked the stall every single day since day one. And that was probably the only way I was able to survive, because I could control those labor costs.”
In other words, aspiring chefs, do your homework. Wrectangle Pizza, Ono Hawaiian Plates, Ottimo and ramen noodle shop Kawae are operating in North Loop Galley now, which means a sleuthing trip is both easy and delicious. The same goes for other food halls springing up in the Twin Cities — Keg & Case at the former Schmidt Brewery; Market at Malcolm Yards inside the historic Harris Machinery Co. in Minneapolis; and Graze Provisions & Libations in downtown Minneapolis with a rooftop deck, to name a few.
At the North Loop Galley, Ellingboe says his goal is “finding chefs that have that entrepreneurial spirit and are really looking to grow a brand or have an interesting concept but are looking to branch out. This is kind of that low-cost, low-risk scenario where they can be a little bit more creative to further develop a new brand.”
